BIAWAK - International Varanid Interest Group

127 JULANDER - BREEDING ACTIVITY IN WILD VARANUS ACANTHURUS
Fig. 4. Female (left) and male (right) V. acanthurus basking
between August to November (King & Rhodes, 1982).
Based on observations in captivity, V. acanthurus has a
gestation period of around two to four weeks (Husband
& Bonnett, 2009). This would place oviposition for the
female V. acanthurus in the present report towards the
end of October or early November, thus falling within
the timeframe reported by King & Rhodes (1982).
Acknowledgements- I would like to thank Jochem
van der Reijden of the Alice Springs Desert Park, who
graciously volunteered to show us around.
References
Husband, G.A. 1980. Notes on the nest and hatching of
Varanus acanthurus. Herpetofauna 11: 29-30.
Husband, G. & M. Vincent. 2009. Monitors. Pp.
484-583. In Swan, M. (ed.), Keeping and
Breeding Australian Lizards. Mike Swan Herp
Books, Lilydale.
King, D. 2008. The diet and foraging strategy of
Varanus acanthurus. Biawak 2: 11-17.
King, D & L. Rhodes. 1982. Sex ratio and breeding
season of Varanus acanthurus. Copeia 1982(4):
784-787.
Received: 23 November 2010; Accepted 30 November 2010